


fifteen minutes you can fly

by edfh26



Series: how soft your fields, so green [3]
Category: Black Panther (2018), Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Fools in Love, Gen, Goats, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, Post-Black Panther (2018), Pre-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Prequel, Skyping, in which it is still unclear if this is an established relationship, the best kind
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-05-16 09:04:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14808339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edfh26/pseuds/edfh26
Summary: Apparently he says this out loud, if Steve’s blush and Shuri’s laugh as she leaves the room are anything to go by. Bucky startles, and tries to cover it. Shuri laughs again.“D’you like it?” Steve asks unnecessarily, running his hand through his hair, which has gotten much longer.“Uh, yeah,” Bucky says after a moment during which his mind has gone totally, traitorously blank. “Looks good. Hi.”





	fifteen minutes you can fly

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Lakeshore Drive"
> 
> Inspired by several tumblr posts and tweets that I cannot remember details of because I am tired.
> 
> Chronologically first but posted third. Go back and read before or after or never depending on your mood.

Bucky would like it to be known that he isn’t incompetent with technology. He  _ isn’t _ . Bucky isn’t any Natasha Romanov or Tony Stark, but his—career—had required some basic knowledge of how to dig through computers to find information. He knows how to get around a firewall. He knows what a firewall is.

 

When Shuri sets a tablet in front of him with Steve’s face on it, it takes him a second to realize that it’s a call, not a video. He would have realized it right away, honestly, except Steve has a beard. It’s not only a physical reminder of the amount of time that’s passed (seven months in cryo), but also  _ wow. _

 

Apparently he says this out loud, if Steve’s blush and Shuri’s laugh as she leaves the room are anything to go by. Bucky startles, and tries to cover it. Shuri laughs again.

 

“D’you like it?” Steve asks unnecessarily, running his hand through his hair, which has gotten much longer.

 

“Uh, yeah,” Bucky says after a moment during which his mind has gone totally, traitorously blank. “Looks good. Hi.”

 

Steve quirks a little smile. “Hey,” he says softly. Bucky can hear city streets around him.

 

“Where are you?” he asks.

 

“Europe,” Steve says, a little bit Captain America. Bucky doesn’t ask further, beyond: “Are you safe?” Steve shrugs, which Bucky takes as  _ not really _ . 

 

“You look better, Buck,” Steve says instead. There’s a deep sadness behind his half-smile that Bucky wishes he could smooth away. Bucky wishes for a lot of things. He can’t have any of them.

 

“Aw, you flatter me,” he says, mocking, and wonders if his smile is just as sad.

 

xxxx

 

“I bought a goat,” Bucky says when Steve accepts his call.

 

“You bought a goat?” Steve repeats, incredulous. 

 

“I bought several goats,” Bucky confirms.

 

“Christ,” Steve says, and actually raises his eyes to the ceiling, the fucker. 

 

Bucky grabs whichever one is nearest—Katja, who looks deeply displeased—and holds her up. “Steve,” he says solemnly. “Meet our kid.”

 

Steve hangs up on him. Bucky is still laughing when he calls back a minute later, apologetic.

 

xxxx

 

“Are you ever gonna drop by?” Bucky asks one night. The light is low in his hut but the sun is shining wherever Steve is. “Not that I don’t enjoy Skyping like high school sweethearts.” That’s how Shuri has described it, at least. Bucky isn’t sure if she’s accurate. It gets a light blush out of Steve, at least.

 

“Do you want me to?” Steve asks, looking away for a second. 

 

“Do you?” Bucky asks.

 

“Yes, he very much does!” a woman shouts from out of frame. Romanov, probably.

 

“I would love to see you,” Bucky says in a rush. Steve bites his lip and smiles, not quite as sad. Bucky can’t look away and hopes Steve can’t tell.

 

“I would love to see you too,” Steve says quietly. Bucky hears muffled whooping in the background. “I didn’t want to ask.”

 

“You could’ve,” Bucky replies. “But thank you, for that.”

 

“I’ll see you soon,” Steve says. The grin he’s been fighting breaks out, crinkles the corners of his eyes makes him look ten years younger. Bucky bites back a happy sigh.

 

“Soon?” Bucky asks, trying not to sound like a lovesick teenager and probably failing. He’s self aware, at the very least.

 

“Yeah,” Steve murmurs, glancing away again and then ducking his head. “Real soon.”

 

xxxx

 

_ Real soon _ turns out to mean two days.

 

Bucky wakes up at night, dawn not yet breaking on the horizon, to the soft ringing of his kimoyo beads. He fumbles around for them and answers with a half-awake  _ hello _ .

 

“I’m outside,” Steve whispers. “There’s no door or I would have knocked, sorry, I didn’t want to wait until the morning—“

 

“Just come in, Steve, fucking hell,” Bucky mutters and taps a few beads so the near-invisible shield protecting the door comes down. It must be raining, because Steve steps in dripping wet. He’s got the look of feverish intensity in his eye that Bucky remembers from the war. It’s still novel to remember things from the war.

 

He also remembers that the feverish intensity was nearly always coupled with exhaustion.

 

“Hi,” Steve says breathily. Bucky gets up to get him a towel.

 

“Dry off and maybe I’ll hug you,” he says gruffly. He checks the old analog clock he dug up. 3:15.

 

Bucky looks around for some dry clothes while Steve towels off his hair. He manages to find some sweatpants and honestly doesn’t look too hard for a shirt. He’ll find one if Steve asks.

 

Steve, god bless him, doesn’t bother, retreating into the small bathroom to changes. He comes out with the towel wrapped around his bare neck and lays his clothes on the back of a chair.

 

“Hi,” Bucky says like an echo. They move as one, colliding together in a tight hug that Steve, admittedly, does most of the work in, considering he has two arms.

 

“God, I missed you,” Steve says into Bucky’s neck.

 

“I missed you too,” Bucky whispers, and then, impulsively, kisses his cheek. Steve lifts his head up just enough rest his forehead on Bucky’s. He’s smiling, full and with teeth this time.

 

“Rogers,” Bucky says, almost a sigh, and tightens his arm around Steve. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you sort of look like shit. Have you slept?”

 

“Uh, no. Haven’t exactly… done much of that,” Steve murmurs.

 

“Come on,” Bucky says, pulling Steve towards his bedroll. “I’m sure as hell going back to bed. You’re coming with.”

 

Bucky settles in, leaving a careful few inches of space between himself and Steve. Steve is tense and fidgety, so Bucky grabs his wrist and presses his thumb to his pulse point.

 

“You don’t gotta sleep,” Bucky says. “Just lay here a while.”

 

Steve takes a few deep shuddering breaths and then tangles his fingers with Bucky’s.

 

xxxx

 

Steve wakes up at five, chest heaving and eyes darting around, uncomprehending. Bucky, who sleeps lightly at best, had awoken the first time Steve so much as twitched. He’s not quite sure what to do in this situation, not used to being on the other side of it. 

 

“Steve,” Bucky hisses, keeping a few inches away. “Hey, right here, pal.”

 

Steve turns his head and stare for a few tense moments before his eyes clear and he melts back into the sheets, breathing slowing. 

 

“Shit,” he mutters into the crook of his elbow, arm thrown across his face.

 

“D’you wanna talk about it?” Bucky asks quietly. 

 

“It’s nothing,” Steve whispers. “Honestly, this happens all the time.”

 

“I get it,” Bucky says. He does, he gets it better than most. “What was it?”

 

“This time?” Steve asks. “Drowning.”

 

Bucky can’t offer anything to make that suck less, so he just grabs Steve’s hand and gives it a squeeze before moving to get up. The sun is peeking up, leaving the world gray and wet from last night’s rain. Steve doesn’t let go of his hand.

 

“Just. Stay, for a second,” he says haltingly. Steve has this desperate look in his eyes, like he’s trying to catch something he never will.

 

“Always,” Bucky says, and sits back down. Goats will wait.

 

xxxx

 

Steve, regardless of Bucky’s feelings on the matter, eventually has to leave again. Bucky might feel worse if Steve didn’t drag his feet so much that Bucky had to force him away. Kindly, of course, with minimal shoving and a promise to visit again.

 

Steve calls again a week later, calm and tired-looking but with wet blood matting his hair. He waves off Bucky’s concern.

 

“It’s all cleared up now. The mission, that is. This was just a scalp wound,” Steve says, gesturing. “It’s healed, but Sam has first shower.”

 

Bucky thinks it’s cute that Steve figures he gives a damn about the  _ mission _ . As far as Bucky’s concerned, the only mission he has personally ever given a damn about was more of a goal, to keep Steve safe. He’s never done well.

 

Bucky is selfish; he knows he should follow Steve wherever he’s going, help with whatever he’s doing. But his life here, in the Wakandan countryside, is peaceful and for once, even if only for a while, Bucky wants peace.

 

“Be careful,” he says, instead of any of the other words bubbling under his skin. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t.”

 

Steve smiles, genuine and crinkly-eyed, and huffs a little laugh. “That ain’t much of a list, Buck,” he says.

 

“Oh, fuck off, it’s longer than it used to be. I’m old, and boring,” Bucky snarks, but he can’t help a grin. “Get some sleep, Steve.”

 

Steve makes sure to make very clear with his expression what he thinks about that, but mercifully locks his opinions inside.

 

“G’night,” he says, and gifts Bucky with another smile. Bucky carries it with him, tucked between his ribs, until Steve calls again.

 

xxxx

 

“Where’s the fight?” Bucky asks gruffly.

 

T’Challa looks at him with solemn, ancient eyes.

 

“On its way,” he says, and well… that can only really mean one thing.

 

xxxx

 

Steve looks older, when they meet on the runway. Bucky pretends like he didn’t brush his hair for this when they hug, though Romanov probably has his number.

 

“Not bad, for the end of the world,” he says, and returns Steve’s terrified grin.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave comments and kudos but especially comments because every one is my favorite thing ever.


End file.
